Young Roots
A ‘local’ perspective on attaining the MDGs
By Johanne R. Macob
FOURTEEN years have passed since leaders of 189 countries met at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit at the UN headquarters in New York. They agreed to liberate their people from extreme poverty, among other deprivations by year 2015, and this led to the formulation of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In the 2014 MDG progress report, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon claimed that “some targets (are) already having been met well ahead of the 2015.” Meanng ‘some,’ not most, and we are only 15 months away from the target date.
The MDG global and even the national progress reports may as well be a declaration for the need of drastic transformation if the MDGs are to be achieved. Very frustrating, isn’t it? However, if it’s any consolation, our beloved Pangasinan is on track in the health sector. For all intents and purposes, MDG 4 (Reduce child mortality) and MDG 5 (Improve maternal health) have already been attained by Pangasinan.
Based on its 2006-2014 data, the provincial government, under the Espino administration, has been continuously improving the facilities of its 14 public hospitals that provide free checkups and medications to indigents. In fact, the province is the first LGU to fully implement the point-of-care program that automatically enrolls the indigent patient in Philippine Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). The provincial government, shouldering the patient’s PhilHealth P2,400 annual premium, has allotted a P60-million budget for the program.
There are also the regular mass immunizations, operation ‘timbang’ and complementary feeding, the Buntis Congress, among others. Notably, the present maternal mortality rate (MMR) of the province, according to provincial health officer Dr. Anna Ma. Teresa De Guzman, is already 44/100,000 births while the MDG only specifies lowering the MMR to 52/100,000 births.
The provincial government has also trained its eyes on MDG 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases) and MDG 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability) are also being given priority. Pangasinan is a candidate for the Malaria Disease Free Zone and may soon be certified as such by the World Health Organization. The province has also increased the number of households with access to safe water and sanitary toilets.
These data above focused on health only but apparently, the province has improved in many if not in all major fields of governance. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) report shows Pangasinan having the sharpest drop in poverty incidence rate, from 26.5 percent in 2006 to 17 percent in 2012, while the rest of the country did not fare as well.
Going back to attaining the MDGs, as one of my conversations with a classmate pointed out, the MDGs, for the goals to be successfully attained and achieved, it is important that these are attained at the community level. The development or the endeavor of attaining the said goals should come from within, the grassroots, a direction that Pangasinan has been working on.
However, we should not forget that the nations that signed the Millennium Declaration have varying levels of priorities as developed and developing nations. But notwithstanding their different levels of poverty, education, and health, what is important is to know that the participating nations must believe they can overcome their barriers and attain their respective objectives.
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